The use of communication cables which include a plurality of optical fibers is rapidly expanding. A fiber optic cable comprises a plurality of glass fibers, each of which is protected by at least one layer of a coating material. The optical fibers are assembled into units in which the fibers are held together by binder ribbons to provide a core. In one manufacturer's line of cables, the core is enclosed by a plastic tube and a plastic jacket.
During the service life of an optical fiber cable, the cable may become damaged. This may occur, for example, through unintentional contact by various kinds of excavation equipment, by lightning or by animal attacks. Such damage may be partial, in which case one or more optical fibers may be interrupted, or the damage may be total, such as a complete cable cut, for example.
In any case, it becomes necessary to restore service as quickly as possible. This may be done through splicing a repair fiber between "cleaned" ends of the damaged cable. The splicing may be done through an expedited temporary arrangement (i.e., a field splicing arrangement) while more work is under way to replace the damaged cable with an equivalent or enhanced system. A "field splicing" arrangement must be one which is easily installed and which is low in cost. Elements of the arrangement must be capable of being packaged quickly and efficiently, and should allow a repair technician to work in an efficient manner to prepare high quality splices.
Indeed, restoration splicing is known to be a very tedious task. It requires steady hands and a clean work environment to achieve high quality splices. Prior studies in assessing the quality of fiber splices have shown that if the technician is under stress, the splices may not be performed correctly and may need repeating multiple times to achieve an acceptable signal quality through the splice region.
A need remains, therefore, for a fiber splicing arrangement that will allow the technician to organize the work area and have a standard setup for splicing together fiber optic cables.